Country-of-origin labelling: South Korea seeks public opinion on standardising label requirements for food products

One of the most contested issues for current country-of-origin (COO) labelling on products in South Korea is regarding the size of fonts and labels, with different standards laid out for domestic and imported products. At present, imported products such as processed foods are required to attach COO information in different font sizes according to the available packaging area and product size, a requirement deemed to be unfair by many manufacturers importing larger-sized products into the country. “The new proposed standards will see a standardization of mandatory COO label font sizes for both imported and locally produced food products at size 10,”​ the local Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Affairs (MAFRA) said via a formal statement. “Current requirements for imported products are for COO label fonts to be size 20 or more if the packaging surface area is 3,000cm2​ or more; to be size 12 or more for a 50cm2​or more packaging surface area, and then at least size eight ...